32 IOWA DEPARTMENT OP AGRICULTURE 



of a figure for two or three years to come. Germany was openly 

 skeptical and not at all. disturbed. You knov/ the rest of it. You 

 know how quickly the balance was swung in favor of the Allies, 

 thanks to American efficiency and methods of organization. 



Our own great state has had a liberal share in it all. First in 

 agriculture and meat production, Iowa's responsibilities over- 

 topped and overshadowed those of other and less favored com- 

 monwealths. For an army has to be fed, else defeat is quick 

 and certain. It was to Iowa and other states of the Middle West 

 that the National Food Administrator turned in the nation's ex- 

 tremity. And there were other calls, but whatever their nature, 

 men for the navy, for the trenches, for shipbuilding and munitions 

 making, for Liberty Bonds, the Red Cross and the many other 

 war activities. Iowa has been the first to go over the top in sup- 

 port of the nation's war program. 



Patriotism has been fairly rampant in Iowa. It is a Flawkeye 

 characteristic; seems to be absorbed from the air and the soil. 

 Our splendid Iowa boys were among the first to land in France 

 and they have given the Huns a taste of Iowa mettle. More than 

 eighty thousand of them are wearing the army and navy uni- 

 forms and nobody knows how many more have gone out of the 

 state to do their bit in the various industries intimately con- 

 nected with the pushing of the war. 



\\'e are all proud of our county and properly puffed up over 

 the wonders accomplished in the last year. We are proud of 

 the part Iowa has borne in the war. We are proud of Iowa peo- 

 ple who have cheerfully given all that has been asked, and who 

 have so enthusiastically carried out the orders and recommenda- 

 tions of the nation's leaders. And now that we are called on to 

 face the trying tasks of reconstruction I have an abiding faith in 

 our state. I know it will not be found wanting. 



Death has been very busy since we met here one year ago. 

 It has invaded our firesides as well as the firing line. Our friend 

 and fellow worker, O. A. Olson, vice president of the state fair, 

 was among the many called to pay the last debt of nature. He 

 served the Iowa State Fair long and well. He was the soul of 

 honesty and honor. In his passing not only the fair but all Iowa 

 lost a loyal t'ooster and a patriotic citizen, There are few men 

 like O. A. Olson and his going leaves a vacancy in our hearts that can 

 never be satisfied. 



